This invention relates to a display device having a visual image and a light source. Still more particularly, this invention relates to a display device which appears to an observer to transform by the addition of visible light a black and white image into at least a partially colored image.
In the visual display arts, a number of devices are available to attract the attention of an observer. In particular, a number of such devices have been developed for use in advertising displays or in point of purchase displays to portray an advertised product in an attractive light and to draw the attention of a potential purchaser to the displayed product. Some of these displays have utilized various types of light sources either in a reflected or in a projected fashion. While such devices have utilized black and white images, it has generally been found to be desirable to use colored images to display a product.
It is a principal aim of this invention to provide a display device of the general type described which appears to convert an image which appears to an observer as a black and white image into at least a partially colored image for advertising purposes. For purposes of this description, the use of the reference to "black and white" images is intended to refer to images which include black and white as well as gray in various tones since gray tones may be considered for these purposes to be combinations of black and white in various proportions.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a lightweight portable aesthetically pleasing housing having a plurality of translucent or opaque walls and a transparent front wall for displaying the apparent black and white image.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a device which appears to the observer to convert the apparent black and white image into a colored image, for example, for advertising purposes.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a device having a first sheet of a material capable of passing visible light therethrough having an image which appears to an observer as a black and white image and a second sheet located closely adjacent to the first sheet and containing at least a portion of the first image which is at least partially colored so that upon the passage of visible light through the first and second sheets, the image to the observer appears to be colored in the manner that the second sheet is colored.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a device of the type immediately heretofore described in which material on the second sheet not otherwise apparent to the observer appears upon the application of visible light.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a method of making the device according to the invention.
These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from a review of the written description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.